I'm a childminder but aibu to not do all I'm asked to do.

[Missymoo71]

I mind 3 children from 7.30am to 5pm, 4 days a week. All in Montessori and school so free from 9.30 to 1pm. I have been doing jobs in the house as asked. Exp: change the bedsheets, wash and dry. All washing for the house hold wash and dry. Then I have to iron everything....I do their weekly shop for them also. Clean out the fridge, clean out the food presses and giving the playroom "a scrub ' I also make dinners, drop and pick ups for Irish dancng have swimming clubs for the 3 and have to stay while class is on. Now, here's my AIBU. They have a cleaner, she gets paid a lot more than me and yet it seems I'm doing a hell of a lot more than the cleaner. She has actually told me she used to have visit them twice a week, until I started. I'm feeling a bit used. I know I should be helping as I am paid while they are in school. But just feel like she is taking the absolute piss expecting me do the cleaners job as well as caring for the children who are my priority. At the interview, she specifically stipulated that she had a cleaner so I wouldn't be asked to do much. Wwyd?

RTFT, Gr8, the OP is in Ireland, a nanny does nursery duties not housekeeping duties if required unless that was previously agreed per the contract as she is not a housekeeper unless hired as nanny/housekeeper. The OP has also stated that these CFers keep adding more cleaning and household duties.

witchtower, the OP has specifically said she earns less per hour than the cleaner does so I doubt she is earning a very high hourly. In the UK a nanny would normally earn more p/h for a higher number of children but not by an order of multiples.

For example, my nanny in London (experienced and with me 2+yrs) earns £12nph for 1-2 kids and £14nph for 3-4. I pay a cleaner fortnightly through an agency approximately the same amount, but I could hire one directly for £10-12ph.

Missymoo - what do you think would be reasonable in your 2 free hours per day (assuming you have a 1 hour lunch break). Could you work out what child-related housework or tasks you can do and offer to do these and these only. If your employer said there won't be much cleaning at the interview because they have a cleaner, then it seems she has misled you. Or perhaps she doesn't regard cooking and laundry as cleaning, in which case you can tell her you misunderstood her meaning at interview.

Minders where I am would get €10-13 per hour for one child and then a bit more for extra kids. But I’d be surprised if she’s on more than €15 an hour. I’d also be surprised if she has a formal contract.

You need to clarify the terms of your employment with yourself and your employer

1. what is the workload

2. What is the pay.

What is it that you would change? The tasks? The pay? Both? Would you be happy to do the tasks for more pay or would you like to return to a more traditional nanny/childminder role?

Then:

3. Research your market value. Call an agency, look at job ads, talk to other people in similar roles. What is the standard pay for the work you are willing to do?

If you want to stay in your current job:

4. Negotiate terms and pay with your employer. Say you love working there but that you've been made aware that the pay for this role is X or the tasks usually required of this role are Y. You would love to stay but need the role/pay to be in keeping with what else is out there.

You have soooo much negotiating power as a nanny. If the parents have found someone they know their children are happy and safe with- that is gold!! They don't want you to leave and have to start again with someone else who might be unkind/unethical/unreliable etc. You are in a strong position. Good parents will pay a premium to avoid the stress of finding someone else.

If that doesn't work or your don't want to stay- find a new job. And this time be very clear about what is and isn't in your job description, and that if any tasks are added then you will charge an additional fee.

My live out nanny is paid the market rate. We have one child. She has one hour to rest and eat when he naps and if he sleeps more than one hour we ask her to empty the dishwasher, fold one basket of his laundry and tidy his toys. That's it. If he wakes up early then this doesn't get done and that is fine. She doesn't do any housework while he is awake. We prepare all his food and put it in a lunch box for him. We also have a cleaner.

If our nanny asked me for a 20% pay rise tomorrow I would agree without hesitating, even though it would be well above market. If she said she didn't want to fold laundry anymore- I wouldn't die on that hill either. Because my child is happy, I feel comfortable with her, and that makes her a crucial part of my ability to earn an income, live or lives and run our home.

What you described sounds completely unreasonable. They are exploiting you.

Turn the screws.

Huh? If you're a childminder then you work from your own house. You can do any housework you like.

If you work from someone else's house then your insurance won't cover you as a childminder.

A childminder earns around £4.50 an hour and a cleaner earns around £10 a hour so the wage difference is normal

Why are you paid less than the cleaner. Surely having responsibility for their children is more important than cleaning their house. I don't understand why they pay you less than the cleaner. Also if you are doing all the housework what is the cleaner doing?

I was a CM for 5 years (£5ph) in England.

What you are doing is not childminding. Your role is a nanny. Regardless of your qualifications, you need to check your contract.
If it requests cleaning, then discuss the amount/logistics of this whilst obviously maintaining the care of the children as a priority.
If it's that you would like more £ whilst they are at school, again ask for a review?

Good luck op!

She’s not in the UK. She’s in Ireland. Childminder is commonly used there to describe what would be a nanny role in the UK.

RTFT always helps.

So your a nanny?
Your presumably being paid for the hours the children are at school though so why would you get paid for not doing anything? I'd be filling your hours too tbh, however, I wouldn't pay my cleaner more then my nanny 🤷‍♀️

OP

Do you have a written contract signed by both you and your employees, showing your hours of work, your salary and your expected duties? If not then how did you agree terms as it does sound as though you are being taken advantage of.

Check your job description and salary against your local market. Eg: Are there agencies for your line of work where you can discuss jobs and fees and maybe have a more contracted day where the boundaries and expectations of your job don't keep being moved?

You should be paid the going “nanny house keeper” rate for your area no question, you are not doing the role of a childminder which usually means kids from more than one family and in your own home.

You are not a childminder, you are a hired help with household duties along with some childcare. What did you expect to do whilst the children are at school? If you don't like the conditions - leave.

You are not a childminder, you are a hired help with household duties along with some childcare. What did you expect to do whilst the children are at school? If you don't like the conditions - leave.

Charming. Are you the employer?

If you are looking after the children in their own home then you're a live- out nanny and not a childminder. And a nanny usually only does jobs connected with the children such as washing their clothes, preparing their meals, etc.
Need to have a talk with them as employer/employee. Do you have a contract which stipulates what your work is? If not then you need to get one.

This all started from the discussion with the cleaner
Negotiate what you would like to earn.

Yabu - basically you do what a parent would do whilst the parent is working. So suck it up. All the things you have listed are all the things any parent would do; including cleaning between the cleaner visiting.
You sound really lazy and entitled.

I realise not much help - but my mum was a childminder for many years when we were younger, and the realisation that the majority of these people paid their cleaner considerably more than their nanny/childminder, will never cease to shock me.

I think it's reasonable to do as much as you can comfortably do. You can't complete the part of your job that you'd be expected to be doing without the children present, so they're giving you tasks to get their money's worth, which I think is fair and I don't think you want to be doing nothing. That said, you can't fill a cleaners role because you are not adept at it in the same way a cleaner is & what they were getting in X hours from their cleaner, will take you longer. Let them know this & try to set some clear boundaries for expectation, YANBU but it is a precarious position to be in so good luck with it

It is up to you. If you do not like the terms of the contract, look elsewhere for a position.

OP, it's not reasonable for your employer to keep expanding the list of your expected duties. You need to work out what you can reasonably do within the hours for which you are paid and then tell your employer that you won't be doing the additional things. Any future changes, e.g. when the youngest child is at full-time school, need to be agreed by you and your employer when they arise.

So you want her to pay you while they are at school and do nothing? YABU.

I think people pay cleaners more because cleaners don’t need to spend as long. So 12 or 15 £/ hr for say 3 hours a week is not actually that much more than say 10-12/hr. But for 30hrs of childcare, any extra adds up a lot, to 100s/month .
Also, cleaners have to spend more time seeking and arranging work and travelling between homes, so their effective wage per hr will not be the 12-15 or whatever you pay.
So don’t be offended if the numerical rate per hour for the cleaner is higher. Doesn’t mean people don’t value their nanny or childcare’s!

Childcarers even .

This thread is easily the most annoying thread I've ever read. It's like every pedantic knob on MN received a call to arms to pile in and explain to the op that she's wrong to to call herself a childminder rather than actually answering her question.

My personal favourite was the poster who googled childminding in Ireland because what google says is true is clearly more accurate than anything actual Irish posters have said.

Also just to clarify the op has never actually said she'd like to spend the time between 9.30 and 1.30 sitting on her arse. She was asking for opinions on whether her workload was appropriate.

In answer to your question op I think you need to have a chat with your employer to clarify your terms of service. I would think that making children's beds etc is fine but doing the adults washing/bedding isn't.